Chronicle
Ca. 10 000 B.C.: * Having mastered the secrets of their home world, Gaia, Titans turn their scientific curiosity towards the stars. Eventually their sphere of influences stretches into a vast empire. Ca. 6000 B.C.: * After 4000 thousand years, Titans discover a strange species, the Xen, on the edge known space. The Xen, despite their great potential, are considered to be naught but animals, and so are bred and spread to all Titan worlds as slaves. Ca. 6000 - 3000 B.C.: * For 3 millennium the Xen work for the advancement of the Titan empire, and over time the Xen population accretes to well beyond that of the Titans on many worlds. Despite being well aware of the Telepathic abilities growing within the Xen, The Titans choose to breed them for Intelligence, since to do anything else is contrary to Titan philosophy. * After 3 thousand years of slavery, it was only a matter of time before the Xen demanded their freedom. At first such rebellion is easily dealt with, but eventually organized Xen succeed in conquering more than a few worlds of the empire. The war is Bloody and long. * Faced with their own technology, the tactical superiority of Xen telepathy, and being vastly outnumbered, the Titans choose to unleash a virus designed to decimate the Xen population. * Many Xen fall to the virus, but the rest continue to fight. To bring an end to the conflict, Titans decide on a scorched earth policy that burn whole worlds to ashes where Xen reside. Now fearing for their very existence, the Xen use their abilities, Titan wrecks and growing knowledge of biotechnology to escape to the deep void of space. Rear guard actions fought to the last Xen by the remaining warriors, trick the Titans into believing they have eradicated the last of their former slaves. Ca. 3000 to 2500 B.C.: * Having won the war, the Titans become aware of what they have done and what they have become. Contrary their own nature and believes, they have waged a genocidal war against a people they were responsible for. * The Titan government choose to eradicate all reference to the existence of the Xen. Within a few generations the Xen are forgotten and only rumours of the great civil war exist. * The leaders of Titan society introduce a codex that states, among other things, no Titan shall ever again turn on another. To enforce abidance a central surveillance society is formed. * Over time the commands of the codex became part of the core of the Titan mindset and culture, eventually the very thought of harming another Titan was simply unimaginable. The last rumours of the Xen faded into oblivion. Around 1000 B.C.: * After a time, the ever present scientific curiosity of the Titan turn back to exploring the universe, and so at the edge of one of the closer spiral Galaxies they find Earth. * The codex having so long governed Titan behavior, doesn't allow for the Titans to even consider making humanity into slaves. Sporadic visits are made to help usher the scattered cultures into new eras of growth and prosperity. Ca. 3000 B.C. to 2000 AD: * The Xen, having barely escaped with their lives, found their own colonies in the deepest reaches of space. It takes time, but eventually they recapture their lost strength. The hatred for their former masters is nurtured and with their Telepathy the memories are kept fresh and passed to each new generation. The constant memories of war and hatred do not allow the Xen to be a peaceful people. Fighting is a natural and persistent part Xen culture. * 5000 years after the end of their slavery, the Xen lord Yoral succeeded in banding together all Xen after a many long and bloody battles. He refocuses the Xen's aggressiveness for revenge against their enemies, the Titans. To accomplish this a new super weapon is formed and a great fleet grown for one purpose, to destroy Gaia, the Titan home world. * Titans, having given up armed conflict, long ago abandoned the means to wage a war or protect themselves... Since the beginning of the 2050´s: * After tiring of its growing sense of futility, the UN takes a more and more aggressive stance in it's many missions around the world. Seeing the new resolution to prevent needless violence and bloodshed, most of the worlds leaders agree to follow through with the many treaties they only paid lip service to before. After decades of war, strife and terrorism, the strain on the political climate of Earth cool down. Those who refuse to try and seek solutions to internal conflicts are blockaded and left to their own devices. * With the strain of war taken off the GNP of most of the worlds countries, the International Space Elevator, whose design and construction had been planned for decades, can finally be built. The tantalizing nearness of the systems resources force the development of better space propulsion systems and space flight becomes profitable. July 20, 2069: * 100 years after the first moon landing, man returns to the Moon, this time to stay, with the founding of the first lunar colony. March 6, 2084: * Riding high on the success of the lunar colony, Earth sends stockpiles of building materials remotely into Mars orbit. Two months later, the first Mars colonists arrive to establish the first Martian colony. * The thin atmosphere and almost nonexistent magnetic field make the undertaking hard, dangerous and very expensive. The dust storms for which Mars is famed cover the planet for months at a time, and do nothing to block the solar radiation that bathe the planet daily. November 9, 2084: * At the peak of the Sun's 11 year solar cycle a huge sun storm cause massive disruptions throughout the system. In Mars Colony extreme radiation cause fail-safes to divert power to the artificial magnetic field generator. The loss of power causes the life support systems of the six geodesic domes to break down. * All 2651 colonists freeze to death. April 21, 2091 * Juno Nevin is born on Mars. December 31, 2100 * The Xen fleet having long prepared for this moment appears on the Titan's home system and surprise their enemy. They use the super weapon, too far gone with the need for revenge to notice the lack of resistance. * Gaia is demolished, The result is a glowing ball of Magma not even the Titans would ever be able to return to life. * Yoral not being able to know the true strength of the prototype super weapon greatly underestimated the chaotic destructiveness of his weapon. Most of the Great Fleet is destroyed in the resulting inferno, including Yorals mother ship. * With the destruction of their home planet the Titans are stunned with horror, few are left who could imagine such an act of destruction, and none who could actually defend against it. A great deal if not most of their knowledge is destroyed and more than a half of the population is wiped out. * The first act of war is such a great defeat the Titans are forced to flee before the might and anger of the remaining Xen fleet. Without Yoral to lead them, to focus their hatred and to keep old disputes buried, the Xen once again turn on each other in the fight for leadership, the distraction allows the Titans to escape as their enemies once did. October 9, 2113: * First contact between humans and Titans... As far as Humanity knows. * The Titan´s leadership decides that Terrans have evolved enough to be valuable allies against the Xen. The fact that Titans have long since forgotten how to fight is never mentioned. * A majority of the Earth administration vote for a caucus which represents humanity on its encounter with the Titans. Among this caucus are lieutenant colonel John Cronus and Juno Nevin, his Adjutant. 2114 - 2117: * The Titan offer a generous portion of their remaining technology to humanity, among them techniques for Terra forming and subspace propulsion that will allow Earths ship to leave the system. As a gesture of Goodwill and to show they can deliver, Titans terraform Mars and Venus. * However, the Titan´s generosity comes at a price: They are unimpressed with the efficiency of the UN in keeping the peace and in acting as a central governing body.They state that the level of development they have reached on their own can only be achieved by the Terrans if they create a planetary central government and an efficient surveillance society to prevent wars and crime and bring about a new and never ending peace. * Earths many governments are reluctant to give up any power, either to each other or to Aliens, but the vast majority of the populations of the world have too much to gain to allow their fates to be decided by those who only crave power. Deciding it's best to stay in the lead of popular approval, most governments officially vote in favour of a central Earth government. October 2117: * The Titans, who have not had factions among themselves for untold years, suggest that the supporters of the central government should make an example to convince all dissenters of the necessity of this plan. * In return they promise further technology presents, especially the military ones they are fast developing, to combat the Xen. The proposal is accepted. General John Cronus signs the contract himself. October 23, 2117: * The Titans provide prototype bombs, which are used on dissident governments around the world. 2118 - 2136: * The orbital air strikes cause critics to fall silent out of fear. Governments who refuse to give in are replaced, either by their own people or by the new central government. For the first time in the history of humanity a central planetary government controls the planet. * The following years see a militarization takes place with the quickness and efficiency most of humanity long forgot - a modern space fleet is built with the help of the Titan’s know how and human ingenuity. * Many new planets are discovered, many rich with resources. At the same time many voluntary emigrants are found. They are mainly composed of those who are not satisfied with the control given to the Titans, who distrust the central government and who don´t understand the massive armament because they don't see any threat except perhaps the Titans themselves. * Juno, disgusted with the actions taken to bring earth under one governing body leaves the military and volunteers to be a colonist. He signs boards one of the Pilgrim class drop ship which is assign to explore the void of space towards the Galactic center with five other ships. Unexpected subspace distortions surprise the inexperienced Terrans causing the ships to veer away on an unintended tangent in order to ride out the distortions. With the return of calm to subspace the colonists find themselves close to a system with habitable planets. * The colonist of Juno's ship chose to settle on the one earth like planet and named it Nebula. The colonists of the remaining ships settle down on the other planets and began to terraform them into a home. After years of star mapping, the Nebula system managed to find Earth's solar system again, but because most of the colonists had no love for the central Earth government they chose to avoid contacting Earth system. Meanwhile the central government is reluctant to write off 5 very expensive Pilgrim class drop ships. They search for the colonists, but space is vast and they are unsuccessful, finally the colonists are pronounced dead. * In Nebula, Terrans find strange signs of life on the lone volcanic planet they are unable to colonize. The Xen on this world are colonist themselves and choose to hide from the ships, whose signals were similar to that of the Titans and so they believed belong to the Titan. Eventually the continuous human probes force the Xen, who have little intention of avoiding a fight, to confront them in space. The colonists are surprised by the Xen ability to communicate so swiftly and fluently, and the Xen keep their surprise of obvious Titan design in the Earth ships to themselves. * At first the Terrans are cautious and careful finding the direct and aggressive nature of the Xen, which so differed from the careful dignified manner of humanity, to be frightening. * In the years that followed a strong friendship grows between the two species, and so eventually the Terrans speak of appearance of the Titans and their reasons for leaving Earth. * Ten years later the colonies growing sense of isolation and home sickness lend more and more weight to the idea of contacting Earth. The system begins a massive armament project because they wish to re-establish ties with Earth they have no wish for renewed repression by the central government. When they are ready the first message is sent to Earth. * They send a long report which contains the most important occurrences of the past 18 years. They also call for the acceptance of Nebula as an independent, equal state and propose negotiations about a cooperative Alliance with a federal constitution. It's proposed for all Terran colonies to be a member of this confederacy. * The negotiations are to take place in the Nebula system without the attendance or involvement of the Titans. The message forgets to mention the reason for the long period of silence and the discovery of the Xen. The colonies decide to keep the discovery of the Xen as their Ace in the hole, just in case Earth is uninterested in peaceful negotiations. 2136: * Earth receives the message and is anxious to enlarge its territory and control of the Nebula system and it's established worlds will help stabilize its sphere of control. The Earth administration have no choice but to accept the offer to negotiate. * The diplomats assemble part of the fleet to accompany them and to point out that they are won't agree to a lowering of the central administration power over all of humanity. * To better their chances, the Earth orders the Titans to not attend the negotiations in Nebula. The Titans feel they have invested too much in humanity to allow the government to let a renegade group of upstarts to break away. They plan to attend, with or without Earth approval. December 7, 2136: * After the Earth fleet are in Nebula, the Titans enter the system and hid in the sensor shadow of the uninhabitable volcanic planet. * As soon as the Xen notice the Titan ships in orbit over their colony they attack the small Titan fleet. With surprise on their side and their numbers vastly more significant than their ancient enemies they defeat the Titans. Upon receiving the Titan distress call, The Earth fleet break off negotiations and rush to their aid. * Terran inexperience in space born combat is telling, they are no match for Xen warriors with war in their blood. Only the ships of the diplomats escape back to Earth. Nebula Broadcast the treachery of Earth and the Titans to all known colonies and call for them to join in it's fight for independence. February 24, 2137: * The Titans prepare for renewed contact with the Xen. To retain its power, Earth has no choice but to declare war on Nebula and its allied colonies. Back Category:Background